Die spotting press



March 21, 1944; H. s. FULLERTON DIE SPOTTING PRESS Original Filed July 27, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet l ATTO R N EY INVENTOR HERBERT 5. FULLEE on Y March 21, 1944. H. s. FULLERTON DIE SPOTTING PRESS Original Filed July 2'7, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Il/IrlllIIfllII/Irllllllllllll!!!ldlllllllllf allrllllllrlfllldrllllfl Vfllfllllll INVENTOR HEEBEET S. FULLERTON ATTORNEY March 1944- H. s. FULLERTON ,6

DIE SPOTTING PRESS Original Filed July 2'7, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 V W 6 M Balm w illnb INVENTOR HERBERT S. FULLERTON ATTORNEY March 21, 1944. H. s. FULLERTON 2,344,692

DIE SPOT'IING PRESS Original Filed July 27,-1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR HEEBEET S. FULLERTON Patented Mar. 21, 1944 DIE SPOTTING PRESS Herbert S. Fullerton, Philadelphia, Pa assignor to The Baldwin Locomotive Works, a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application July 27, 1940, Serial No.

348,067, now Patent No. 2,317,851, dated April 27, 1943. Divided and flail 1942, Serial N 0. 448,937

2 Claims. (CL 76-4) This invention relates generally to press equipment and more particularly to die spotting presses and is a division of my copending application Serial No. 348,067, filed July 27, 1940, now Patent No. 2,317,851, dated April 27, 1943.

Die spotting presses are generally used in the production of massive stamping dies for parts such as automobile bodies or the like. In finishing such dies the same are brought together to determine high spots thereon whereupon the dies are separated and the diemaker grinds or chips on the high spots. This operation is repeated a suflicient number of times to insure accurate matching of the die surfaces and is necessarily a very costly and skillful operation. Heretofore it has been usual when the dies were separated that they were maintained in their normally vertically aligned relation thereby requiring the diemaker to crawl or reach in between the same work on the die surfaces. In such cases the upper die and platen have been held up either by mechanical latches or by safety blocks or other equivalent means thus preventing any possibility of the upper platen from falling down with consequent inJury to the workman. In addition to the time and expense of operating a machine in accordance with the foregoing, there was the further climculty that the workman was unable to have free and convenient access to the die surfaces.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved die spotting press adapted to allow free and convenient access to the die surfaces without-interference from either half of the complementary dies.

A further object is to provide an improved die spotting press in which the dies may be made readily accessible in an expeditious and eflicient manner and without any sacrifice of the accuracy in alignment of the dies when the dies are brought together during a die spotting operation.

Other objects and advantages will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description'of the accompanying drawings in which: 3

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved die spotter with parts broken away to show details of construction;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic outline of my improved die spotter, controls and operating mechanism therefor;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of my press with the application June 29,

lower die supporting means moved out from the Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevation of the front end of the base and lower laterally movable platen with parts broken away to show certain of the operating plungers and cylinders, this view being similar to the bottom portion of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section through the depth of the base and lower platen taken substantially on the line 8-8 of Fig. 5, but showing the lower platen laterally removed from the base Fig. 7 is a plan view of the base with the lower platen removed and portions of the platen supporting base girders broken away;

Fig. 8 is a section taken substantially on the line 8-8 of Fig. 5 with the lower platen in its normal die supporting position within the press but with certain elements omitted for sake of clarity:

Fig. 9 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 9-9 oi Fig. 7; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section taken lengthwise of the lower" base and platen taken substantially on the line Ill-40 of Fig. 6.

The means by which I determine accurately the high spots on the dies constitutes the subject matter of my said original copending application and hence a detailed description thereof is not needed here as it will sufilce to point out for the purpose of my present disclosure that the upper platen i can be moved vertically with both time and coarse adjustments. The fine adjustment is through a pair of threaded rods l8 and i9 ad Jacent side frame I and another pair of threaded rods 20 and 2| adjacent side frame 2, Figs. 2.and 4. As shown in Fig. 4, the lower ends of the threaded rods are journalled in bearings diagrammatically indicated at 23 which are secured to the inner side of frames l and 2. The upper end of the threaded rods are journalled in bearings diagrammatically indicated at 25 formed in the upper stationary crosshead 4. Individual crossheads 21 are each provided with non-rotatable nuts to receive the threaded rods, these crossheads being vertically guided by the inner sides of frames I and 2 by suitable tongues 29 guided by gi-bs 30 removably secured to the frame side. The four screws Ill-22 are simultaneously rotatable through any suitable gear and shaft driving mechanism diagrammatically indicated in Fig. 3 as 'omprising a motor 3'! driving a transverse shait 38 which, in turn, drives a pair of bevel gears 39, a pair of longitudinal shafts 40 and bevel gearing 4| connected to the respective screws. Rotation of the screws will change the elevation of the four crossheads 21 so that when the crossheads are in their approximate position for effecting a final accurate spotting operation, the upper platen 5 is then lowered until it rests upon the tops of adjustable flanges 35 carried on suitable sleeves threaded in the crossheads 21.

The operator now measures with a micrometer at each corner of the platens the vertical distance between the upper and lower platens. If the vertical distances between the platens at their four corners are not equal the operator then lifts platen 5 by hydraulic pressure and suitably adjusts the individual elevation of flanges 25 to make said vertical dimensions equal. After the adjustment of the sleeves the operator can again lower the platen 5 by a relatively coarse adjustment through the hydraulic rams and cylinders to allow the platen to rest upon the sleeves Whereupon'further vertical micrometer measurements will be taken at the four corners of the platens and the sleeves again adjusted if necessary. By repeating this operation the operator can bring the upper and lower platens into that degree of parallelism which may be required. depending upon his personal ability to make the micrometer measurements between the platents and to make adjustments of the sleeves. It will be understood that the foregoing adjustments are made with the dies brought substantially together, although not in actual contact with each other. It will, of course, be understood that if a particular production press requires that the platens be out of parallelism, then it is only necessary for the operator to adjust the flanges 35 to give different vertical dimensions between the four corners of the platens. After the necessary adjustments are made the operator then lowers the upper platen 5 down on to the flanges 35, this lowering being done by the hydraulic rams and cylinders. The platen is now lowered through the remaining distance by operation of motor 31 which causes the four screws 18-2! to be simultaneously rotated through the bevel gears 38- Fig. 5, thereby lowering the four crossheads 21 together with the platen. When the dies come in contact with each other at a high spot, then the corner that is approximately in the neighborhood of the high spot will cease its downward movement and the remaining corners will-minutely settle downwardly tending to follow the downward movement. of the crosshead flanges 35, the usual frame guideways for the movable platen having sufficient operating clearance to permit light tilting of the platen. The flanges 35 adjacent the corner of the platen that has ceased movement will of course move down away from the platen but when this occurs an electrical contact is made through a suitable micro switch as disclosed in said copending application to provide an indication that the dies have a high spot in a certain general locality. However, when the dies are finally accurately matched, all portions of the die surfaces will come into contact simultaneQusly and stop the entire mov'a'ble platen with the result that all the flanges 35 will simultaneously move downwardly away from the platen thus causing actuation of all micro switches. This will be indicated by suitable means not constituting a part of my present invention. Hence, the dies will now be matched with their bases precisely in the desired predetermined-gelation.

From the foregoing it is seen that I have provided an extremely sensitive and eflective means for matching dies with the die bases in parallel relation or in any predetermined non-parallel re- 'lation. Such operations are accomplished with dispatch by reason of using the hydraulic rams and cylinders to raise and lower the movable platen during. the rough spotting while the screws are used to lower the movable platen during the last half inch or so of final accurate spotting. During this final accurate spotting the movable platen is preferably raised by the use of the hy draulic rams and cylinders.

Die table.To render the dies highly accessible to permit removal of high spots by grinding or chipping while at the same time insuring accurate relative positioning between the upper and lower dies throughout-a die matching operation, the lower table or platen is mounted upon four pairs of front and rear small wheels 53 and 54 which roll upon sectional trackways consisting of outer stationary tracks 55 and inner vertically movable track sections 56. These two sets of trackways and associated mechanism to be described are so structurally and functionally related that the lower die may be moved forwardly out of the press as shown in Fig. 4, but when it is reinserted in the press it then has a normal accurate relation to the remaining mechanism especially the crossheads 21 with their micrometer adjusted flanges 35. Such repetitive accuracy during successive repositioning operation of the lower platen is most essential as otherwise the value of the micrometer control would be rendered useless. In the operation of the microcontrol, when the vertical micrometer dimensions have been taken between the four corners of the platens and when the flanges 35 have been adjusted accordingly, it is clear that this relationship must not be disturbed notwithstanding that the lower platen may be moved in and out several times during a spotting operation. To accomplish this permanency of relationship together with the flexible accessibility, I employ my following improved arrangement.

The outer stationary trackways 55, Figs. 6 and 7, are specifically shown as four in number, although any suitable number thereof may be employed dependingupon the size of the press or the weight of the dies to be spotted. Each of these trackways is mounted upon a suitable frame generally indicated at 58 and formed of a main.

longitudinal I-beam 59 and small beams 60 and 6|. The inner edge of the frame 58 is supported on the main press base 3 through suitable supporting plates 62, Fig. 7. Suitable wheel stops 63, Fig. 6, may be bolted to the outer ends of the stationary rails 55 to limit outward movement of the lower movable platen 8 which is provided with wheels 53 and 54 journalled in suitable brackets 64.

The inner or movable sectional trackway structure comprises the main press base 3 having a plurality of lifting cylinders and rams generally indicated at 65, specifically six in number, three of which are located on each longitudinal edge of the press base. The front and back longitudinal beams 66 and 67, Fig. 6, are supported on top of the rams at each side while tracks 56, speciflcally four in number, are supported transversely on said longitudinal beams in planes containing the stationary trackways 55. movable trackways 56 as shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 extend transversely of the press for substantially the full depth of the press base. To insure accurate vertical repositioning of the lower platen within the press after each lateral removal thereof, I have provided an improved arrangement whereby the platen is removably supported di- These inner termediate bolsters 10, all of which are suitably secured as by bolts H to the lowerportion of the press base. These bolsters extend for the full depth of the press base and are located preferably on each side of each movable trackway thereby holding the platen in spaced relation to the base to provide adequate room for trackways and rollers. From the description so far it is seen that when operating fluid is admitted to the ram and cylinder 65 the longitudinal beams 66, 61 together with the trackways 56 suspended are formed between the platen and sides I and 2.

To accurately laterally position thelower platen within the press and to lock the platen therein, a pin 81, Fig. 6 is vertically slidably sup- I portedinthe key 84 so as to drop into a tapered lockbar opening 88 when the platen is in its rearmost position. Any suitable lever 89 may be employed to raise and lower the locking pin 51. It will be understood that operating fluid to the various operating cylinders may be supplied from thereon will all lift until the trackways engage rollers 53 and 54 whereupon the platen 8 is lifted from the bolsters 68-40. This lifting action is relatively small andneed be only 'sufiicient to provide ample clearance between the bolsters and the movable platen during movement thereof.

7 The movement, however, is continued until the track-ways 56 are in alignment with the outer stationary trackways 55 whereupon the platen may be easily moved'from the inner trackways 56 to the outer trackways 55.

To insure that the upper edges of the inner and outer trackways are on the same level a series of limit stops generally indicated at '12 extend over the longitudinal beams 66, 61 at various points thereof. These limit stops, as shown in Fig. 9, specifically comprise a pair of stud bolts 13 threaded into suitable bosses of the press base and are connected by a flat bar 15.

To move the lower platen in and out of the press, the central bolster, 69, Figs. 5 and 6, is provided with an operating cylinder suitably rigidly secured to the bolster so as to constitute a stationary part of the press base. This cylinder lies substantially midway between the top of the longitudinal rails 66, 51 and the under side of the movable platen. A hydraulic ram 76 has its piston rod 71 connected to the movable platen through a suitable flexible connection generally indicated at 16, Fig. g. comprising specifically, a vertical slot 79 formed in a forwardly projecting arm 80 which is secured by bolts II to the front end of the platen. The piston rod 11 is provided with suitable washers 82 on each side of the slot 19 thereby insuring proper shifting engagement with the rod. As a result of this slip-Joint, the hydraulic ram and cylinder 15, 16 may remain in a fixed position while still maintaining their operative connection to the movable platen during raising or lowering of the same by the lifting rams 65. Fluid pressure may be supplied to either side of the platen ram 16, Fig. 6, to move the platen in 'and out. After the platen has moved into the press fluid pressure from the lifting ram 65 is released whereupon the trackways 56 move downwardly to bring the platen to rest on the fixed bolster abutments 68, 65 and N. The ram and trackway 56 continue to move down slightly to be clear of the rollers 53 and 54 as is clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 8. To insure adequate uidance of the platen during movement, a relatively long key 84 is formed on the underside of the. movable platen and project rearwardly as shown in Fig. 6 to slide within a suitable keyway 85 which is formed in the upper side of the central bolster 69 above the cylinder 15. As shown in Fig. 5, lateral guides and slots 86 any suitable source and that the supply or discharge of fluid to such cylinders may be controlled ith any usual valve mechanism either to raise, ldfierer hold the upper platen or for suitably coordinating lateral and lifting movements of'the lower platen. Inasmuch as such suitable valve mechanism for the foregoing operations may be of any usual form further description thereof is not deemed necessary.

From the foregoing disclosure it is seen that I have provided a die-spotting press which is extremely eil'ective in expeditiously spotting dies with a high degree of accuracy and ease of operation, these desirable characteristics being obtainable in my improved press for dies having either parallel or non-parallel bases.

It will of course be understood that various.

changes in construction and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art on said base in opposed relation to said upper platen thereby to allow a die spotting operation to be effected, means for lifting said lower platen vertically from said base, means whereby said lower platen may be laterally moved while in its lifted position thereby allowing a die to be bodily removed iromor replaced in said press upon lateral movement of said lower platen, hydraulic ram and cylinder power elements for laterally moving said lower platen, means for rigidly supporting one of said power elements by said'base, and means for flexibly connecting the other of said power elements to said lower platen whereby said lower platen may have vertical movement while said rigidly supported power element remains in fixed relation to said base.

2. The combination in a die spotting press comprising, a press frame, an upper vertically movable platen for supporting a die, a lower die supporting structure having a base element and a platen element adapted to be supported directly on said base element during a die spotting operation, means for vertically lifting said platen element away from said base element, a hydraulic ram and cylinder each of which is supported by one of said elements for laterally moving said lower platen, and means for connecting said ram and cylinder to the other element so as to allow relative vertical movement between said latter HERBERT S. FULLERTON.

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